Noisy Atv`s Should Buzz Off

July 14, 1985|By Peter Sleight, Staff Writer

I hate ATVs.

For the uninitiated, an ATV is an all-terrain vehicle. In South Florida, most ATVs are really ATC`s, or all-terrain cycles -- a motor-driven tricycle with big fat tires capable of bouncing over the most imposing of obstacles.

Don`t get me wrong, though. While I hate ATVs, I envy ATV riders. Heck, it looks like great fun, bouncing and sliding around in the dirt and flying through the air like Steve McQueen.

But I hate ATVs because for every rider enjoying his cycle there are about 10 others being disturbed by his fun.

I wouldn`t mind ATVs so much if people owning large ranches or estates bought them to ride on their own property. I wouldn`t even mind if they invited over a whole bunch of friends with ATVs.

Unfortunately, most people buy ATVs to ride on someone else`s property.

This is a trend that can`t be blamed only on ATCs, either. Riders of off-road motorcycles, snowmobiles (yes, the trend reaches outside Florida), swamp buggies, and four-wheel-drive vehicles are also to blame.

It`s an interesting trend to think about, a distillation of America`s love affair with machinery, its susceptibility to advertising, its tendency to let the pursuit of thrills supersede respect for the rights of others.

I think of a television advertisement showing two hermits, a father and son, who are snowbound in a cabin in the mountains. They`re snug and warm in their cabin, doing some kind of winter task such as repairing snowshoes. They look bored.

Suddenly, three ATCs appear over the snow-covered hill. The men in the cabin realize this by the hoots of delight coming from the riders. They go outside and watch awestricken as the riders, a nice family of three dressed in stylish racing suits and helmets, trace skidding circles in the snow, then disappear over the next hill with nary a putter emanating from the cycles. Naturally, the two men conclude that they need ATCs, too, and start trudging over the mountain to the nearest dealer.

It`s an appealing scene. Heck, I want an ATC after watching that commercial. But the scene is more often played like this:

Two hermits, a husband and wife with a single-family home near a Florida Power & Light right-of-way in western Broward County, are having a little barbecue in their backyard. The husband is brushing sauce on a piece of chicken. He looks peaceful.

Suddenly, three ATCs appear from over a dusty slope. The couple realizes this by the cloud of dust and the high-pitched screaming of the cycles` engines. The couple watches angrily as the riders -- three 14-year-olds in shorts, no helmets -- trace skidding circles in the dust, then cross six lanes of University Drive onto the next portion of right-of-way.

Hank Slaughter, an organizer of the ATV Club of South Florida, is helping to eliminate some of the abuses by setting up a track for ATVs in far western Broward.

But one track is not going to help much when dealers are selling more than 1,000 ATCs a year in Broward County. There aren`t any answers to the problem. There is a demand for the vehicles and manufacturers are happily meeting that demand. There is nothing illegal about buying an ATV, but it is illegal to trespass with an ATV. However, the only way police can enforce the law is by buying lots of ATVs themselves and spending time roaring after cyclists that could better be spent on more serious crimes.

The only practical solution is to teach riders a basic respect for others` rights and that ATVs belong only on a racetrack. Of course, that takes away all the fun.

So in the meantime, the only thing to do is stare vainly at the backs of departing ATV riders and glower: I hate ATVs.